


invite the devil (see how you'll fare)

by Myrime



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Blackmail, Don't copy to another site, F/M, Iron Dad, Iron Family, Kidnapping, Natasha Romanov Lives, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Protective Avengers, Protective Tony Stark, Team as Family, Tony Stark Lives, Trojan Horse, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-09 04:21:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20847440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myrime/pseuds/Myrime
Summary: When Morgan gets kidnapped, the Avengers assemble again. Nobody hurts their family and gets away with it.





	invite the devil (see how you'll fare)

**Author's Note:**

> For the [Whumptober 2019](https://whumptober2019.tumblr.com/) Day 1: Shaking Hands
> 
> Despite tumblr warning everybody constantly about October approaching, I was surprised this morning to see that September is over. So, I quickly wrote this before I even got out of bed. Please blame all spelling errors on that.
> 
> Enjoy!

It takes them half an hour to realize that Morgan is missing. By that time, she has already vanished without a trace. The first contact with the kidnappers happens four hours after that. At that point, Tony is willing to burn down the universe he saved to get his daughter back.

He is bowed over a screen, searching for where exactly the tracker in Morgan’s bracelet cut off while FRIDAY is hacking into New York’s surveillance system when the call comes in. It is a blocked number, and FRIDAY gets ready to trace the caller before Tony can order her to.

He takes a deep breath, trying to remember what he knows about diplomatic approaches to situations like this, of stalling, of needling for information. His mind is filled with only one thing, though, and that is panic with the first tendrils of all too familiar loss growing in him.

Tony picks up but does not find the strength to say anything. Whatever this is, it will make what has happened real.

“Stark,” a distorted voice calls out in a horribly cheerful tone, not dissuaded in the slightest by Tony’s silence. “We’ve got something of yours.”

Immediate fury pushes all thoughts of diplomacy from Tony’s mind. “If you have hurt my daughter I will –” he growls, picturing the most gruesome ways to dispatch the kidnappers, one worse than the other, but does not get farther than that.

“Not yet,” the man says. That is a definite threat that has Tony’s hackles rising.

He looks at the screen in front of him and sees that FRIDAY has not yet had any success with tracing the call. Tony cannot watch her efforts, so he gets up and starts pacing. Moving is supposed to help with emotions, but it does not help him to calm down.

“Let me talk to her,” Tony asks and even manages to sound demanding more than pleading. Hearing Morgan’s voice might be what he needs for his panic to settle down long enough to be more useful in this search for her. She is also smart enough that she might pepper in a clue about where she is. If she knows. If she is not too terrified.

The kidnapper laughs shortly as if Tony’s demand was a joke. “But we haven’t yet talked about what _we’re_ getting out of this.”

Tony’s steps falter as he fights the urge to smash something, to aim a repulsor at the phone despite the other man being somewhere safe from it.

“You’re not –” Tony starts but is cut off again.

“Do we have to make her scream to get you to listen?” the man asks in an almost reasonable tone.

It has Tony seeing red. He imagines some brute of a man putting his hands on his little girl. He imagines Morgan with bruises, bleeding. He imagines her scared and lonely and wondering whether anyone is coming for her.

Tony remembers all of that. The first time he was kidnapped, he was about five years old too. Back then, he did not yet know that Howard would not pay any ransom. He was terrified and hurt and waiting for a rescue that never came.

To think that he could not save his daughter from this fate makes all of those old feelings pop up again. Only it is much worse now because Morgan is the most precious person in his life. He thought themselves secure, having given Morgan a tracker and an emergency button disguised as a charm on her bracelet. She has a driver and a bodyguard. She does not go anywhere alone. Yet, the way home from Cassie Lang’s house was apparently enough for someone to dispose of her bodyguard and take her away.

Tony grits his teeth to keep from yelling, and asks, “What do you want?”

“How kind of you to ask,” the kidnapper says, humming in approval. Then he grows utterly serious, no trace of humour in his voice anymore. “We want your time-travelling tech. All of it. Tomorrow.”

After reversing the Snap, they have destroyed all of that, knowing it was too dangerous to keep it, even disassembled. It is too easy to doom the entire universe – several of them, in fact – by meddling with the time-space continuum.

“It’s gone,” Tony says, even though he knows that will not help. What is reason to a man who holds children hostage? “We deleted all the specs too.”

That last thing is a partial lie. Between Tony and FRIDAY, they could surely build it again. They managed it once, retracing their steps will make it easy. But only if it was for a good cause. Equipping some blundering group of villains with the means to change the very fabric of the universe is in no way a viable idea. On the other hand, Tony has realized the very moment they found Morgan missing, that the entire universe pales against his daughter’s well-being.

“Then you’ll have to rebuild it,” the man says, his distorted voice wry. “I’m sure we can help your memory.”

A shout lies on Tony’s tongue that he only barely swallows. If he finds out they have done any harm to Morgan – any more than taking her from him – he does not know what he will do, does not know whether there will be any reason left in him.

“It’s not –”

“Do you really want to argue with us?” the man cuts him off, the first signs of anger in his voice. “You should better get to work.”

It is not that easy. Tony knows they are not interested in technical details, in the impossibility of building the time machine in one afternoon. They would have to talk Hank Pym in surrendering some of his precious particles too, and while Tony and Hank are somewhat getting along these days, Hank is not going to endanger the world just to save one person. One child. Morgan.

Swallowing down all of these protests, Tony says, “I need to talk to my daughter.” His voice breaks halfway through, but he does not care for dignity. They know exactly that they have found the ultimate leverage against Tony.

“You’re in no position to make demands,” the kidnapper dismisses easily, back to sounding amused.

“And I’m not going to give you the means to destroy the world as we know it without proof that you have my daughter,” Tony snaps back, unable to contain his temper anymore. “I want to see her.”

There is a pause on the other end that has Tony afraid the other man hung up. He glances at the screen, withering inside when he sees that FRIDAY is still not any closer to tracing the call. Whoever these people are, they are good.

“If you ask her anything incriminating, we’ll shoot her in the knee,” the man finally says. All of Tony’s relief immediately vanishes again at the threat. “I imagine that’s not good for a growing body.”

Tony has barely time to breathe through his fear and anger when his phone asks him to accept the video call. A fine tremble takes over his entire body, making it impossible to keep standing or even hold the phone still enough to press accept.

He slides down to the floor in a graceless heap, leaning against the nearest wall, and pulls his legs close to his chest so that he can brace the phone against his knees. Then, hands shaking, he accepts the video call.

At first, he does not see anything. It is dark on the other side, but the swirling black makes it look like someone is moving the phone, walking perhaps. They could be covering the camera to not give him any clue about their base. Tony just wants them to get to his daughter.

He regrets that thought only a moment later when light floods the screen and there she is, sitting in what looks to be a small cell, her hands are bound and one side of her is face red. So the bastards did touch her. She looks frightened but determined when the kidnapper comes closer to her. Through the despair filling Tony, he feels a stab of pride at Morgan’s courage.

The man steps close enough to thrust the phone in Morgan’s face, holding it much steadier than Tony manages to hold his own. This close, he sees the tear-tracks on her cheeks and wishes once more he could put his repulsors into action.

“Dad?” Morgan asks, sounding much younger than she is. Tony hopes that seeing him does not rob her of her strength. She will have to believe for a little longer that her parents can save her.

“Morgan, honey,” Tony says, softening his voice as much as he can. “Are you all right?”

That is a stupid question but all thoughts of perhaps exchanging some information right under the kidnapper’s nose evaporate at looking at her. He just needs to know she will hold up.

“I’m scared, Dad,” Morgan replies, appearing shrunken in on herself.

“I know, honey,” Tony says and takes care to breathe, to keep his face clear of the terror he feels. “But we’re getting you out of there. I need you to be brave for a little while longer.”

Morgan’s eyes widen. She has clearly hoped for an immediate solution to her problem. It breaks Tony’s heart.

“I’m –”

The feed cuts off and Tony’s ear is filled with the kidnapper’s voice again as he clicks his tongue.

“Now, now. You’re not doing any rescuing, Mr. Stark,” he chides, unperturbed by the sight of a crying child. “I’m sure you know that we won’t allow you to find her alive if you try.”

New terror fills Tony at the nonchalance of that threat. Losing Morgan would – losing her is not an option. Tony has atoned for his sins. Perhaps he will never be done with it, but Morgan should not have to pay for everything he has done wrong.

“If you hurt her,” Tony says, sounding much calmer than he feels, “I’m going to tear you apart limb by limb.”

In response, the kidnapper laughs, and even that sound is a threat. “Do you really want to make your situation worse? Or hers?” he asks almost eagerly. “Tomorrow, Stark. We’ll be in touch, so you better have the machine ready.”

A click signals the end of the call, but Tony remains where he is, curled up and desperate, pressing the phone against his ear as if he could hear Morgan again if only he waits long enough. His breath comes in desperate bouts, barely enough to get enough oxygen into his system, making him feel like he is burning up inside.

The soft sound of steps brings him out of his stupor enough that he puts down the phone. His hands are shaking so badly that he cannot keep hold of it, causing it to clatter down to the ground next to him. He stares at it, unable to make sense of it, and only looks up when Pepper puts her hands over his.

She is pale and terrified, her eyes wide, her lips bloodless. She looks one wrong word away from breaking apart and Tony cannot allow that to happen. Pepper is always strong, always able to keep her composure. If she cracks, how could he ever hope to not lose it too?

“What do they want?” she asks in a voice that is not hers, too brittle, too terrified.

Tony stares, wising he could have better news for her. “The time machine.”

It sounds even more impossible when he says it out loud. Even if they managed to replicate it, how could they hand it over to people who apparently do not have a single moral bone in their body? How can they trade their daughter against, possibly, the entire universe?

“What are we going to do?” Pepper asks, holding the same questions he has.

The answer, of course, is easy, even if achieving it will not. “Teach them a lesson that nobody touches what is mine.” Tony aims for firmness but it ends up flat. He still means every word.

Squeezing his hand, Pepper says, “We need to keep her safe.”

Tony nods despite the bitterness spreading through him. “Look what a good job we’ve done of that up until now.”

Pepper flinches as if struck, but her determination never wavers. “We’re not alone.”

* * *

“Well, it’s easy,” Scott Lang says, and Tony is ready to tear into him, just for making light of the situation.

Looking at him, Scott does not appear like he takes anything lightly here, though. Morgan got taken on the way home from a playdate with Cassie at his place. Playdate being a misleading name for the two girls, despite the age difference, locking themselves into Cassie’s room and building robots out of old toasters.

If anything, the guilt clinging to each of Scott’s movements is almost as monumental as the one Tony feels himself. During the bitter first seconds of letting Scott into their home, Tony was ready to put all the blame on him for not taking better care of their daughter. Pepper had taken his hand again, though, and calmed him down enough to strategize with a nearly cool head. 

They have made the call and everyone answered. The Avengers, old and new, friends, family. Their living room is filled with heroes, and yet Tony does not feel any less close to a breakdown.

Scott stands before them and says, “We’ll build them a machine –”

“We’re not going to give them the means to time travel,” Steve cuts him off, his tone a tad too harsh.

All of them look exhausted, on edge. Perhaps Steve regrets having to be the voice of reason. Like everyone else, he has arrived in combat gear, taking Tony’s call like the emergency it is.

“Even if we could build it until tomorrow,” Bruce adds, clearly trying to balance the absolute refusal in Steve’s tone with a reasonable argument why they cannot give in to the kidnappers’ demand.

“_A_ machine,” Scott repeats, slightly impatient, “not _the_ machine. We just have to make it look impressive.”

Tony’s patience, which has already hung on a very thin thread, snaps. “You think they’re not going to hurt my daughter if they find out it’s a fake?” he asks and could be sounding dangerous if there was not a noticeable tremble to his voice.

Sympathy flashes over Scott’s face that Tony does not want to see. Cassie has never been kidnapped or hurt by a stranger. He might think he knows what Tony feels, but he has no idea.

“I was coming to that,” Scott says shortly. “They won’t have the time, because they’ll take us right to their place.”

Tony does not want to listen to fantasies that will only steal more of the precious time they have left. “They –”

“Let me finish,” Scott cuts him off, and he sounds determined enough that Tony lets him. He wants to find a solution, desperately so. “We’ll take Pym Particles. We’ll shrink and hide inside the machine.”

A short silence falls as everybody is staring at Scott and the way his slightly manic movements still as he waits for their judgement.

“Like the Trojan Horse,” Steve muses. To everyone’s surprise, he seems to consider this, his brain already whirring to make up strategies.

“Exactly,” Scott exclaims, looking relieved. “We can go in unnoticed and take them unaware. Some of us can scout the place while the rest takes care of the bad guys.”

“I –” Tony wants to protest. There is so much that could go wrong with that plan. He just cannot risk his daughter’s life. He does not have a better idea, though. None that will allow him to come close enough to the kidnappers without giving them plenty of time to go through with their threats.

“Let’s get to work,” Pepper says, standing tall, even though Tony can easily see the cracks in her composure.

Nobody wastes any time in getting up, splitting into groups easily enough, waiting for orders. In a way, it is eerily similar to the last time they got together to save the world, only now it is _Tony’s_ world that is in danger.

Scott announces himself in charge of the design. Nobody has ever seen the real thing, apart from the people in this room, but they need to make it appropriately flashy and leave enough room for them to travel unnoticed.

Natasha, Bruce and Steve go out to get supplies with strict instructions to stick to their shopping list. They do not have enough time for secondary supply runs.

Tony and Clint make room for the project down in the basement, and when Wanda follows after them to help out, Tony does not say anything. The two of them will likely never be friends, but they are not adversaries either. And when Tony made the call, she came without hesitation.

Hope is tasked with getting them enough Pym Particles, before helping Bucky and Rhodey to coordinate making them suits.

Dr Strange turns up in his usual dramatic way when they are all gathered back, bringing Peter with him despite Tony deliberately not calling him to not endanger both of his children at the same time.

“We’ve got this,” Peter tells him, not wasting any time on questions. Tony has to admit that getting a hug from Peter helps him calm down more than listening to Scott’s planning.

Pepper organizes dinner for all of them and makes up a schedule for them to sleep so that everybody is getting some rest even while the work on the machine is never interrupted. It takes them most of the night to get it done and then half the morning to put the finishing touches on it. If the kidnappers want a demonstration or give it more than a cursory look before taking it to their base, it has to look suitably impressing.

Around noon, the kidnappers call again to dictate their terms. Tony has to leave the room where all of his friends are watching him with tight faces and encouraging nods because all of that just seems to push him closer to his breaking point.

They have an hour to meet the kidnappers in a place too crowded for either side to do something stupid. Tony is supposed to come alone. Morgan will not be there in case the machine does not work. If there is any sign of tampering or someone following them, Morgan will die.

“Don’t try to fool us and you’ll get your daughter back, Stark,” the man says, sounding downright condescending.

That is almost enough for Tony to call the entire plan off. It puts Morgan in too much danger. They still do not have anything better, however.

He stays outside on their porch, looking at the lake that sits too still for the storm inside him. Pepper comes up at his side, not saying anything at first, just leaning into him.

They were supposed to have peace. After Thanos, after restoring the universe, they were supposed to be left alone, to concentrate on their family. Morgan was supposed to be safe.

“I can’t come with you,” Tony says, almost choking on the words. It is hard not to see that as a personal failure.

“Because they expect you to be handing the machine over,” Pepper replies, sounding too calm. “They’ll monitor you.”

Tony turns to her, wishing she could make sense of that entire situation for him. “I cannot stay back,” he says, stumbling over the words. “I can’t –”

“We can trust our friends,” she says with enough determination that he knows she needs to convince herself of it too. “They will take those bastards down.”

“You’re not going either?” Tony asks, wondering whether Pepper’s legs feel as weak as his.

She reaches out to cup the side of his face in her hand. It feels like that is the only thing still keeping him upright.

“We’re both going,” Pepper says firmly. “As soon as they’ve cleared out with the machine and stopped looking over their shoulder. First, we’re going to be just scared parents.”

Tony’s lips shape into something bitter, as far from amused as possible. “That part won’t be hard to play at all.” Even now, with a plan and the combined might of all the available heroes they know at hand, it is hard to breathe.

“It’ll look strange if I’m not there too,” Pepper argues as if Tony had said anything against her coming along.

If he could, he would leave her safely at home, of course, so he does not have to worry about his entire family. He would not propose that, though, not while knowing exactly how she feels, terrified but determined to bring Morgan back home.

“It could be a trap,” Tony cautions nonetheless, just to put it out there as if it needs mentioning.

“I’m going to stay in the car,” Pepper says. “And we’ll have the suits.”

Tony has not been in the Iron Man suit since he died in it. In the beginning, he thought it would be hard to give up that part of his life, but then the very thought of the suit closing in around him put him off. He has something so much better worth living for now.

“What if –” Tony tries to say, still brimming with worry.

“Don’t,” Pepper cuts him off gently and he gladly lets her. “The plan will work and we’ll get our daughter back.”

* * *

They have gone slightly overboard with the machine, making it flashy enough to look close to the real thing to fool anyone even on the second look. There are several hidden compartments for the shrunken Avengers, just to make sure they will not be trapped all in one place if something goes wrong. Nothing will go wrong, of course. Tony cannot afford to think it will.

He even made replicas of their wristbands. If any of the kidnappers are stupid enough to try them on, they will get a nasty shock. Quite literally too. It might just be that last thing they ever do. Tony, of course, hopes they will not have the time to do so. This should ideally be over before they have even unpacked the whole machine.

The men meeting them in the parking lot are fully masked and armed. Six against Pepper and Tony. With how much fury is brimming inside Tony, he knows he could have taken them down before they would have had the chance to pull their own triggers.

He does not move, however, when most of the men busy themselves with loading the machine into their own transporter. The leader remains where he is too.

“What about my daughter?” Tony asks, desperate to resolve this.

The man reaches for his pocket and Tony thinks they might have miscalculated. He is fully prepared to fight, but the only thing that comes into sight is a phone. Without taking his eyes off Tony, the man taps on the screen for a few moments, then turns it around for Tony to see.

It is a picture of Morgan. As far as Tony can tell, she is still in the same room, still bound, still terrified. Her lip is split, which has new fury coursing through him. There is a timestamp that tells him the picture was taken an hour ago. It could be a fake, and a lot could have happened in that hour, but Tony is still glad for that sign of life.

“You’ll get her back once we’ve established that the machine works,” the man says once he has lowered the phone. He uses something to distort his voice. They are careful, professionals.

“What are you planning to do?” Tony asks, despite knowing he is not going to get an answer.

“That is hardly your concern,” the man scoffs. “Although we could make sure that the world knows you gave us the means to change it.”

Quite frankly, Tony does not care to be announced as a villain as long as he can get his family back together.

“You will drive back home,” the man continues, his tone growing sharper. Then he throws the phone at Tony, who catches it out of pure instinct. “When you’re there, you will call us with that so we can be sure you didn’t follow us. You won’t search for us, you won’t send anyone after us. We’ll call when we’re ready to let the girl go.”

It will take them at least an hour to get back to the lake house, enough for the kidnappers to vanish. Tony could have FRIDAY try to send a fake signal, but they will know if Tony and Pepper call too soon.

Gritting his teeth, Tony nods and hopes more than ever that Scott’s plan will succeed.

“We’ve got everything,” one of the other men announces as he steps up to the leader, his weapon pointed at Tony.

“Let’s hope you didn’t try to fool us,” the leader directs at Tony.

Then he turns around as if he does not fear to get shot in the back, secure in his knowledge of having Tony Stark entirely in his hands. It grates at Tony that he lets him go.

He remains outside while the kidnappers get into their car, and watches them drive away. Even then, he takes a long minute just to breathe before he joins Pepper in their own car.

“Did you hear?” Tony asks.

“Show me the picture,” Pepper says instead of answering.

He watches her face go tight and the same rage burning inside him fills her eyes.

“Let’s go home,” Pepper exclaims quietly, forming the words carefully enough that Tony knows she, too, suspects the kidnappers have bugged the phone. No talking about the plan, then. No trying to give each other hope.

“It will be all right,” Tony says nonetheless, even while he feels miserable.

On their way back to the lake, Tony taps a specific code against the screen of his own phone to alert FRIDAY that they are unable to talk freely. The rest of the Avengers should only contact them once the trap is already sprung, but he needs to make sure that they will not clue the kidnappers in before that.

After that, they can only wait.

* * *

When the call comes, Steve has barely time to finish his sentence before both Pepper and Tony are already suited up and ready to leave.

The kidnappers’ base is not even far from here, and it takes them barely over a quarter-hour to get there. Each minute tears at Tony, enough so that he does not even feel anything at being in the suit again.

By the time Tony and Pepper arrive, most of the men are already down. It appears to be a warehouse complex with an extensive maze of underground halls. Tony zeroes in on where he sees Steve rushing through a hall.

“Down the hall,” Steve calls, not wasting time on long explanations. “Rhodey’s with her.”

Then he rushes off again, ready to take care of the rest of the kidnappers.

Tony hurries down the hall, firing at whatever enemy is stupid enough to get in his way as if he never stopped being Iron Man. At his side, Pepper is just as single-minded. There is no room for anything else in their minds but their daughter.

The room they burst into is vaguely familiar from the short video call and the picture, but Tony does not concentrate on that. Huddled up in a corner with War Machine shielding her from anyone trying to get in here, is Morgan.

If not for the suit keeping him upright, Tony might have crumbled, his legs going weak at the sight. She looks so much smaller than he remembers, and what has been merely a red cheek the day before is now a vibrant bruise spanning the left side of her face.

“Mum, Dad,” Morgan calls, voice breaking into a sob.

That is enough to make Tony move again. The suit retreats, leaving him entirely human and vulnerable, but he wants to touch his daughter skin on skin to make sure that she is real. Rhodey will protect them.

“Honey,” Tony calls when he reaches her, pulling her into his arms. “We’re here. We’re here.”

Tony holds her as close as he can, making only room for Pepper. For a small eternity, it is only the three of them existing in the world, the only thing that matters is their intermingling heartbeats and his daughter’s breath on his cheek.

She is sobbing, and Tony hopes the Avengers will leave him some of the men to deal with or otherwise break a few bones while disposing of them. Although his rage pales against the relief of having his daughter back.

“Are you hurt?” he asks, but cannot quite bring himself to let go of her to check.

Pepper disentangles herself from them but backs up only so much that she can look Morgan over.

“I’m fine,” Morgan says quietly and neither of them believes her. But she is here, with them, and they will make sure that something like this never happens again. 

“Let’s go home,” Tony says when he feels like he can talk again without sounding like he is falling apart.

He picks Morgan up, aching when she buries herself against him as much as she can, appearing afraid to let go. Pepper steps back into her suit before falling into step beside him, repulsor whirring and ready to blast anyone daring to stop them to pieces.

Rhodey stalks ahead, giving them room but offering more protection.

They run into Steve on their way out, and he greets them with unending relief on his face, looking like he too is tempted to reach out and check whether his unofficial niece is all right. 

“What are we going to do with the kidnappers?” he asks, sounding furious.

Tony has some ideas about that. His bloodlust is not yet satisfied, but he will not let go of his daughter long enough to do something about that.

“Take them away,” he manages to say. “Hand them over to the police. If I see them again, I will not be responsible for what happens.”

And Steve, upright, good-guy Steve, nods grimly, almost like he himself does not trust himself with putting them away unharmed.

“We’ll find out what they were going to do,” he promises.

Tony glances at him and shrugs. He supposes that is a concern, and once all of this is over, he might be interested in that too. For now, he could not care less about reasons.

As they walk on, he mutters to Morgan, “What do you think about building you a suit, Morgoona?”

The way Pepper glances at him, they will have a discussion about this. Perhaps they should start with self-defence. Barnes still does not have a job, Tony muses, and he owes Tony a favour or two.

For now, though, they just need to go home. The Avengers will deal with the rest of this mess, and they can concentrate on keeping their daughter safe. Nothing else matters for now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.


End file.
